Risk management webinar offered for dairy farmers

“Focus on Risk for Dairy Farmers” webinar planned for Jan. 24, 12:30 to 1:15 PM

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County and Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY are partnering to offer a “Focus on Risk for Dairy Farmers” webinar at 12:30 to 1:15 PM, January 24. PRO-DAIRY’s Thursday webinar series are free and registration is not required.

New York’s dairy farmers manage risks all the time, the largest of which for many over the past four years has been milk price. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has developed tools to help dairy farmers manage milk price risks with varying success, such as the Milk Income Loss Contract program (MILC), Dairy Margin Protection Plan (DMPP), and the improved DMPP of this year. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) also has tools to help dairy farmers, but these have been adopted less in part because they require communication between a crop insurance agent and the farm, and cost is usually higher, but protection is also higher.

This Thursday webinar will feature dairy farmer Ron Robbins, Owner, North Harbor Dairy, Sackets Harbor, NY and Ed Gallagher, President, DFA Risk Management. Robbins has used many tools to manage milk price risks on his dairy over the years, including those from FSA and RMA, and he has also bought contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. During the webinar he will share his experiences and which tools he uses now for his farm’s milk protection. Gallagher will review RMA’s new “Dairy Revenue Protection” policy. This is a new policy developed with American Farm Bureau. It is similar to crop insurance offered for field crops, which has helped that industry manage risks for a number of years.

Fay Benson, who works with Cornell University Crop Insurance and Risk Management and Education Program, will host the webinar and share where more information can be found about the Dairy Revenue Protection Policy.

To participate, or for more information about this or other Thursday webinars, visit Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY at: prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/webinars/. Contact Kathryn Barrett, Sr. Extension Associate – Dairy Education,

PRO-DAIRY, by phone at (607)229-4357 or email at kfb3@cornell.edu.